


Avatar of Me

by pok3d3x



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Magic: The Gathering, Pathfinder (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Established Relationship, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Meta, Role-Playing Game, What Have I Done, not focused on relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-04
Updated: 2017-05-04
Packaged: 2018-10-28 04:18:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10823595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pok3d3x/pseuds/pok3d3x
Summary: Avatar of Me  2UU (4)Creature — Avatar (*/*)Avatar of Me costs  more to play for each ten years you've been alive.Avatar of Me's power is equal to your height in feet and its toughness is equal to your American shoe size. Round to the nearest ½.Avatar of Me's color is the color of your eyes.





	Avatar of Me

**Author's Note:**

> Name comes from the Unhinged set, which I thought fit pretty well. This is a pretty light piece I wrote to de-stress from writing my capstone, so it may not be the most polished fic ever, but I do have some plot bunnies it's stirred up. There could be more to come. 
> 
> Basically, "what if the characters of magic were really college students having a DnD campaign"? Draws most of its rules from Pathfinder since that's my area of expertise, but may also occasionally be influenced by World of Darkness, Dark Heresy, and whatever I need to make the plot work, honestly. Some lore staples will be written into Pathfinder's rules (like a sural is an exotic weapon with a reach of 10, does 1d6 damage for medium creatures, 3x crit, disarm and grapple).

"You notice Chandra is now flanked by enemy," Lavinia informed Jace as she placed the miniature next to Chandra's. It was an elf ranger figure since they'd run out of human thieves, but it made calling which enemy the player characters wanted to hit easier with mismatched figures anyways.

Jace sighed and muttered," I have to save her, don't I?"

"Wow, thanks, pal. I really feel the love," Chandra said sarcastically.

Shrugging, Jace said," Being neutral evil was so much easier."

Ral laughed and ribbed," You mean when your will check was, what, minus five?"

Not looking up from his spell list but pouting, Jace quickly retorted," It was two. You weren't even here for that." Everyone was glad to move on from 3.5e.

"Yeah, because _someone_ just had to schedule the campaign at four on wednesdays," Ral complained, sparing Lavinia a mostly good humored glare. He'd missed last semester's sessions because of his computer science lab.

Lavinia rolled her eyes and ignored Ral, instead asking Jace," So, what are you going to do for your turn?"

"I don't think I prepared that spell," Jace mumbled to himself as he trailed his finger down his sheet of paper. "Or that one…"

"This is why you should be a sorcerer," Ral said knowingly, crossing his arms and smiling smugly.

"Yeah, okay. When you can learn more than forty-three spells, come talk to me," Jace retorted, then tapped his finger on one of his spells that had the tick mark that he used to denote it was prepared and said," Aha, I'll use Hold Person."

Lavinia rolled a will save for the enemy and declared." Alright, you succeeded, but casting a spell provokes an attack of opportunity from your fighting partner."

Jace cussed and nodded, knowing it was coming, but not ready for the result. He was low on health and his constitution was low; he didn't want to lose this character after almost a full year with him.

"Roll me combat maneuver defense," Lavinia ordered. "He's attempting to grapple you."

"Do I get my attack of opportunity," Gideon asked. His sural had a reach of ten feet, so the enemy was attempting a maneuver in a threatened square of his.

"No," Lavinia simply answered, and Gideon accepted it without question. She was kind of glad that he did, since she knew that if Ral was asking the same question it would turn into a small argument. She didn't like to reveal the NPC's feats.

Jace rolled a d20 and winced. "Um, what does a nine do for me?"

"You're now grappled."

"Dammit. Yeah, this isn't going to go well." Jace drummed his fingers and started at his spell sheet intensely, like he could magically make a spell appear that didn't need somatic components. He rolled a concentration check quickly and sighed with relief as he got a high roll. He would be so mad if his attempt to save Chandra got him killed and was in vain.

"Ral, your turn next."

Ral stroked his chin as he looked at the grid and thought about what he should do. He'd taken out his opponent last round, so his character was pretty free and didn't have to worry about saving his own ass. His boyfriend's on the other hand…

"Okay, so, when I look at Jace, how _bad_ does he look?"

"Awful," Chandra swiftly chipped in," Have you seen how he dresses?"

Jace shot her a dirty look, then glanced at his hit points. Frowning, Jace answered Ral's question with," I'm obviously injured, like really, really bad. I probably have blood oozing from a head injury."

"Okay, but, like, do I think you can make it on your own? There's a guy over on the other side of the board I want to get."

"I'm bleeding from my head, Ral. My teeth are probably bloody and my vision is swirling."

"Well, I can't see that your vision is going. I guess maybe I think you're handling the situation pretty well."

" _Ral_ ," Jace groaned. "My clothes are shredded and showing how completely torn up I am from the rider's wolf before, and I'm pale from my lack of blood."

Ral tapped his chin as he hummed sadly. "Hmm, it's too bad we don't have some—completely hypothetical of course—numerical scale to convey just how badly wounded we are."

"Less meta, more playing," Lavinia cut in exasperatedly.

Snickering, Ral waved his hand and said," Fine, fine. Can I ready an action and give Gideon a meaningful look to tell him to bullrush the guy off of Jace?"

"If you roll to convey your message," Lavinia charitably answered. Gideon's character had been deafened at the beginning of combat, so it would be hard to get his attention and convey much of anything.

"Whaaaat? Come on, he knows my character. We got some practice fighting together by now."

Lavinia folded her hands and rest her chin on them, asking, "Did you set up a signal beforehand to mean anything?"

"No, but think of the circumstances. He knows my character's powers, and they obviously want to protect their boyfriend."

"Right, so he'd be paying attention, and be able to roll sense motive to see if he understands your gaze's intentions."

"Do we at least get a situational bonus because of our boy toy?"

"Oh my god, Ral. Why are you even arguing so hard? You have a bluff of ten," Chandra said after an annoyed sigh. After Lavinia shot her a look of, _less meta_ , Chandra scratched her head and corrected herself," I mean, you're so good at bluffing and stuff."

"Yeah, but Gideon's sense motive is, like, maybe plus five tops." Ral ignored Lavinia's pointed glare. 

Gideon flatly began to correct Ral with," You realize my wisdom is plus—" Locking eyes with Lavinia, he quickly cleared his throat. "My character is actually quite wise and has used that to his advantage numerous times, right?"

"High enough to get all of friends killed as kid," Ral quipped under his breath, which prompted a large eye roll from his boyfriend.

Voice dripping with sarcasm, Gideon replied," Because it's so much better getting your spark from—"

"Ah ah ah," Ral interrupted," Now is the time for saving our boyfriend's ass. I ready an action to shoot a lightning bolt at the goon once he's cleared from Jace, and exchange a meaningful look with Gideon."

"Care to give us an example of what that might look like," Chandra teased.

Ral emphatically clutched at his heart and looked to Gideon like he was the last hope of the universe itself. He and Chandra giggled at the no sell as Gideon just looked up what his skill bonus actually was in anticipation of rolling it.

"Alright, lover boy, what's your bluff?"

"Uh, let's see… Twenty-four," Ral said after a quick roll.

"Sure, and Gideon, make me a sense motive check?"

Gideon pursed his lips as he rolled a low number, just knowing Ral would jump all over him for it. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he said," Twelve."

"Alright, well, it took you a second to get it, but Ral's ever emotive face finally cued you in that he wants you to bullrush Jace's attacker," Lavinia decided, then went back to Chandra, who was in the midst of melee combat. "What do you do, Chandra? You're flanked if Jace's spell fails."

"Well, obviously I'll take free five feet to not be flanked anymore," Chandra said, reaching forward and moving her figurine one square. "And, I might as well rage and kill the guy who's still trying to kill me."

Chandra rolled two d20, grinning as she proudly exclaimed," Thirty-two and twenty-one."

"Both attacks hit," Lavinia confirmed.

"Alright, let's see…" She collected the 2d6 for her rage fire and 4d4 for her falchion and rolled everything all at once. "Twenty-six damage, including fire damage."

"He's burnt to a crisp," Lavinia said, then rolled a save for the other thief. "And his friend is still paralyzed. Gideon, I'm assuming you're bullrushing?"

"Yes, and I want to push him as far as I can. I got… a twenty-nine," Gideon announced after a pretty low roll but boosting it up a lot with his bonuses.

"Alright, you push him back ten feet, and—"

" _Lightning bolt!_ " Ral unleashed ten dice eagerly, flooding the table with six's and a single two. He laughed manically as he barked out," Fifty-six points of damage!"

Lavinia didn't bother rolling a reflex save for the foe, since even if he won and took half damage, he was dead. She declared his death, which left only the single thief Chandra was engaged in battle with yet.

"I hate you," Gideon said flatly as he rolled a reflex save and failed.

"What?" Ral asked, voice high pitched. "I used up all my weaker spells for the day taking out those werewolves earlier because someone _insisted_ we leave them alive."

"We had a cure for them," Gideon said, raising his voice with exasperation at the old argument being raised again.

Ral shrugged with a smug grin. "So how's your character looking, Gids?"

"I'm unconscious, but strangely enough, still able to flip you off."

Jace piped up and asked," Who's holding the health potion again?"

"Chandra, since she's the one who usually needs it," Ral swiftly answered.

"Rude," Chandra said with a sharp pout.

"True," Gideon weighed, smiling a little at her look of betrayal. "I get to be as rude as I want. I'm dying."

"Well, I'm not finishing the fight fatigued, and I can't give you the potion while I'm raging, so just… try not to die for a few rounds," Chandra said, trying to pretend to be a little apologetic.

"If we have to waste ten thousand gold on your dead ass, I'm going to be so mad. I was saving up for wicked sweet tats," Ral said dismissively.

"I'll just feel so bad for you not getting your umpteenth tattoo," Gideon sardonically said.

"Anyways," Lavinia said, bringing the conversation to an end," It's Jace's turn again."

"Right, I'll try to stabilize Gideon," Jace said, readying his d20 for a heal check.

Lavinia nodded and encouraged," Alright, roll it up."

"I'm so sorry if I fail," Jace muttered, looking to Gideon anxiously. 

"At least you have the good grace to care," Gideon muttered a little darkly, earning an 'innocent' smile from Ral.

Jace looked to Lavina and asked," How about a seventeen in heal?"

Lavinia rolled a die hidden from her players and replied measuredly," You provide barely sufficient first aid. Prop up his legs and treat for general shock and what not. It's your lucky day, Gideon, you're not suffering cardiac arrest."

Turning to Ral, she asked," And you?"

"Um, I don't think I want to kill my teammate," Ral decided aloud, realizing he didn't have many spells left for the day, and the levels he had open had highly destructive spells only.

Gideon shot him a look of, _really?_

"So, I'll just let her do her thing. I try to help Jace keep Gideon alive, I guess.

"You're practically dead," Chandra informed Gideon like he may not have noticed. "So I'll just jump into killing the last guy. Falchion slash!" She rolled her hit rolls and proudly read them off, confident she landed both of them. When Lavinia told her she was right, Chandra rolled all of her dice, and complained," Aww, only nineteen damage."

Lavinia rolled his round attempt to slip Jace's hold, and announced," He breaks free from the enchantment and tries to hit—he misses you. Just roll me another attack roll. If you blew on him he'd fall over."

Chandra tossed 2d20 and cried out in a mix of horror and glee as she got two natural twenties. Quickly rolling to confirm, she asked," I'm assuming a twenty-eight and twenty-one confirm?"

Lavinia could sense the nonsense about to spiral out of control and just nodded sagely and said," They do. Roll damage."

The cacophony of dice rolling was passed by Chandra's whoop of laughter as she proudly announced," Sixty-four damage!"

With not nearly as much excitement as Chandra, Lavinia described," Where there once was a man, only ash remains. You so utterly annihilated him, no friend or family could recognize the corpse. You should convert to Paladinhood with how royally you smited him."

Chandra grinned. "Sweet."

"Alright, we're going to call it there," Lavinia decided. "Nissa will be back next week, so we'll have you meet her new character in a nearby town."

"Aw, I'm so glad she's finally done with that art installation. Like, it's really cool, but I miss her coming to the campaign," Chandra said, perhaps a little too eager.

"It will be good to have a healer around again," Ral said," Then maybe people would be little less pissy when I electrify them a little." That his comment garnered a healthy amount of laughs and frustrated grumbles made him grin cheekily.

"Well, we'll pick back up next week. Best of luck with midterms, everyone," Lavinia said, beginning to pack up quickly since she had a class coming up in twenty minutes on the other side of campus. She always kept perfect time with her sessions, which several of the players swore was evidence of real magic existing.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Jace said pulling the hood of his navy hoodie up and sinking miserably to the table.

"That's what you get for being an overachiever taking two extra classes this semester," Ral said unsympathetically, even though he too lamented midterms.

"He's not wrong," Lavinia said," It's ruining your sleep schedule."

"Vinnie, we're college students," Chandra said. "We're supposed to have screwed up sleep schedules."

"You're still supposed to sleep a few hours a night," Lavinia criticized, making direct eye contact with Jace.

Jace shrugged and excused," Too much homework."

"Just don't do it then," Chandra suggested.

"Uh, Chandra, I think he actually cares about his grades," Ral said with a small chuckle.

Chandra huffed indignantly. "I care about my grades," she lied. 

Gideon clapped her shoulder and pushed the conversation off of her for her benefit. "Let's just all be thankful none of us have a class with Markov this semester." Several relieved groans sounded.

Midterms would come and go, and many of their party would do aggressively okay at best on their exams, but this ragtag group of nerds would keep their campaign going throughout the semester, summer, and senior year—and maybe, hopefully, beyond that.


End file.
